Electric-welding machine



Aplll 5, 1927. J. KAHN ELECTRIC WELDING MACHINE Filed Sept. 10 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1623,249 April 5,1927. ,l JKAHN v ELECTRIC WELDING MACHINE INVENTOR ATTO vPatented Apr. 5,1927. l

UNITED .STATESA PATENT omer..

Continuation of application Serial No.

vThis application is a continuation of my application Serial Number 683,707, tiled December 31, 1923, which is hereby abandoned.

This invention relates to electric buttweldi'ng machines, and particularly to machines of this character provided with means for connecting the sections of rolled beams by welding together the projecting tongues formed by shearing the webs of such beams along zig-zag lines so as to produce struetural members of much greater height but with the same tension and compression 'chords as the original beams,'and its obvject is to provide a machine of this character which. will be continuous and automatic in its operation, which will have great capacity, and which shall be simple, reliable and comparatively inexpensive to build.

This invention consists of a Welding device and means to' feed thereto two sections of a rolled beam which hasbeen sheared along a zig-zag line to form-tongues, said feeding v means causing the tongues of the twov sections to engage, said welding devlce being adapted to bring the tongues up to the welding temperature and press them together.

It further consists of guides orshoes and endless chains .toA pass along between bthe guides or shoes with the two sections ofthe beam, said chains serving as electrodes to conduct current tothe sections of the beam.

It further consists of means for forcing together `the ends of such tongues on the beam sections as they are being welded and to flatten the joints after the tongues have been welded.

' It also consists in the details of construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings and particularly pointed `out in thev claims.

'In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of this improved welding machine. Figs. 3,4 and 5 are sections on the Vlines 3 3, 4--4 'and 5*-5 of l tlon of a sprocket wheel.

for many purposes these beams are not prop-` erly proportioned for the loads they aretc F'g 1, respectively. Fig. 6 isa central sec-l 683,77, lcd December 31, 192.3.l This application led September 10, 19:65.` Serial No. 55,466.

. carry. This is particularly true of the webs of the beams which are often much too heavy to conform to the best engineering specifications.

It Vvhas been suggested that the webs of rolled I-beams and channels be sheared along .zig-zag lines to form sections, each having tongues of the same height, allthe tongues being evenly spaced, and to then unlte the ends of these tongues to produce a .beam of much greater height than the or1g1nal beam, the new beam havin the same upper and lower chordsbut havlng a web of openwork with sufficient shearin and compression strength for the desire purpose. As the load-bearing capacity of beamsvaries substantially with the square of their heights, such reconstructed beams have much greater load bearing capacity @than the original beams.

Two beam sections to be united are shown 1n plan in Fig. 1 and consist of the anges 1 and the tongues 2 which were originally portions of the same web. These sections are fed into the machine in such a manner that the ends of these tongues 2 gradually approach and meet. lVhefn they contact, an electric current quickly heats the 'contacting ends of the tongues to a welding temperature, and the tongues are then pressed together to effect a weld and thereafter the Hash at the joints is rolled down, as will be described later on, although this last operation may be omitted if desired. This machine is continuous in operation and the beam sections are fed into the machine in any desired manner.

The machine is built up of two side frames, each comprising side bar 3 and any desired number of legs 4:. On these side bars are mounted the bearings 5 for the head shaft 6 of the Aconductor chains and the bearings 7 for the tail shaft 8. On these shafts are mountedthe pairs of head s rocket wheels 9 and tail sprocket 4whee s 10. These wheels are `preferably constructed, as shown in Fig. 6. to comprise a hub 12 and a disk 13 attached to the hubfiange 15 by bolts 14 and insulated therefrom bythe teral. Y I

Extending across between the side bars 3, preferably just below the shafts 6 and 8, are cross bars 16IIL supporting plates 17 which are vertically adjustable by means of the screws 18. lShoes 19, preferably'- of copper,

-thimbles 16 of any desired insulating ma! are secured to these plates by means of the insulated screws 20, but the shoes are insulated from the plates by the sheets 22 of insulating material. These shoes are preferably hollow, cooling Water being conducted to and from the chambers 23 therein by pipes 24.

Extending between the bearings 5 and 7 are bars 25 which support the transverse angle bars 26. The tubes 27 are slidable in holes in these angle-bars but insulated therefrom by thimbles 27a and connect to the upper shoes 28, also preferably of copper and formed with chambers 29 to and from which thesertubesl may conduct the necessary cooling water. The shoesV 28 are pressed down by the springs 30.

Extending around the sprocket wheels 9 and 10 and between the shoes 19 and 28` are the two conductor chains 32, each formed of conductor blocks 33 and connecting links 34. These blocks 33 are pressed down against the tongues 2 of the beams by the` upper shoes 28 and the springs 30` and as the current passes to and from the shoes 28 over theconductors 34 and 35, it flows through the blocks 33 to these tongues and passes between the enids of the tongues as they approach each other sufficiently, heat` ing their ends to welding temperature. Any desired means may be used to regulate lthe current but as such mechanism forms no part of this invention, none is shown.

The4 hot ends of the tongues are pressed togetherbymeans of the power-driven closing rolls 36 mounted on the vertical shafts* 37, rotatable in the bearings 38. These bearings are preferably positioned 'in pockets in the cross bar 39 by the spacing blocks 40 and 41 and the set screws 42 to adjustV this machine for beams of various heights.

. Bevel gears 43 are shownon the lower ends of these shafts meshing with the adjustable pinions 440m the transverse shaft 45. A pinion 46 on this shaft 45 meshes with a gear 47 on the countershaft 48 on I fwhose outer end is a sprocket wheel 49. A

driving chain 50 connects this sprocket wheel with a. second sprocket wheel 52 on the head shaft 6. Any one of these three shafts may receive power from a motor, a pulley 53on the shaft 6 being shown to indicate thatA as the main shaft of the machine. ,The beam sections are fed through the machine by these conductor chains and the closing rolls 36, the other. rolls serving as guides and being turned by the work.

The tongues of the two sections of the beam are prevented from contacting before they come between the shoes by the small rolls 54 which preferably engage the inner sides of the lower ianges of the beam sections. These rolls are mounted on pins 55 carried by blocks 56 which are positioned in a channel 57 in the end cross-member 58 the machine.

of the frame, between the spacing-blocks 59 and 60. These blocks may be secured in position by the set screws 61. It will be noticed in.Fig. l' that the tail sprocket vwheels 10 are spaced farther apart than the wheels 9. This is to prevent sliding movement between the blocks 33 and the tongues 2 of the beam sections as the sections converge in feeding forward.

In order to Hatten the flash of the welds at the ends of the tongues 2, a `pair of rolls 63 and 64 are provided, mounted on shafts 65 and 66 which are freely rotatable in the bearings 67 vertically slidable in the pedes rolls together with the rolls 36 maintain the beam in a straight line as it emerges )from The sections of the beam as they enter-the machine are supported by the table 78 and the finished beam as't leaves the-machine by the table 79.

When the tongues of the two sections touch, the metal begins to burn away before the weldlng begins and the loss is sometimesas much as twice the thickness of the mate-- rial being welded. As the flow of current is from one shoe'29 through the chain below it. across between the tongues 2, through the Aother chain to the other shoe 29, it is obvious that any other desired means maybe employed toguide the sections of the beams being formed and that the chains 32 may be ,entirely omitted. I prefer to use the chains, however, as they have demonstrated their efficiency for the present purpose. The other details of construction and the proportions of the parts of this machine *may all be changed by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my'v invention as set forth inthe .following claims.

I claimz- 1. In an electric welding inachine, parallel guides between which the work is slidable, and a conductor chain adapted to pass between the guides with the work.V

2. In an electric welding machine, pairs of parallel guides between which the work is slidable. a conductor chain adapted to pass between each pair of guides with the work, and means to press 'together the pieces of work to be welded as they pass between the guides.

v 3. In an electric welding machine, parallel shoes between which the work is slidable, a conductor chain adapted to pass between the shoes with the work, means to press together the ).ieces of work to be welded as they pass tween the shoes, and means to guide the work so as to prevent JContact of the pieces to be' welded before reaching thechains and shoes. v

4. In an electric welding machine, parallel slices between which lthe work is slid able, a conductor chain-adapted to pass/between the shoes with the work, means' to press together the pieces ofwork vto be y welded as they pass between the shoes and means to roll down the flash ofthe wclds after the work passesfrom the shoes.

5. In an electric welding machine, parallel shoes' between which the work is slidable, a conductor chain adapted to pass between the sms with the work, means to press together Vthe pieces of vwork to be welded as they pass between the shoes,

means to roll down the flash of the 'weldsI after vthe'avork passes vfrom the shoes, and

means-to said rolls. v

6. In an electric ywelding machine, pairs of shoes between which the work is slidable, electric conductors connecting to one shoe of each pair, a shaft at each end of the sets of shoes sprocket wheels on theshafts, sprocket chains on said wheels and slidable between the shoes with the. work to be welded, and a pair of rolls rotatable on axes parallel to the planes ofthe sprocket wheels and-positioned between the shafts therefor to' position the work between the shoes. f

7. In an electric welding machine, pairs of shoes between which thel work is slidable, electric conductors connecting to one shoe of each pair, a shaft at each end of the sets of shoes, sprocket wheels on the shafts, sprocketl chains on saidA wheels and slidable between the shoes with the work to be welded, a pair'of rolls rotatable on axes'parallel to the planes of the sprocket wheels and positioned between the shafts therefor to position the work between the shoes, and means to drive the sprocket -wheels and the rolls to feed the work through thema'chine. A f

8. In an electric. weldingmachine, two

guide lthe work after it leaves pairs of parallel shoes between which the work is slidable. electric conductors connecting to one shoe of each pair, a shaft` at each end of thel sets ofshoes, sprocket wheels on the shafts. sprocket chains onV said wheels 'and slidable between the shoes with Athe work to bevelded, 'a pair of rolls rotatable on axes parallel to the planes-of the ,sprocket wheels and positioned between the shafts therefor to position the work between the shoes, `means to drive th sprocket .wheels and ythe rolls to feedl the .work through the machine, and means to flatten the welds after they leave the shoes. In an electric welding Amachine, two

pairs of parallel shoes between which the work is slidable electric conductors connesting to one shoe of each pair, a shaft at each end 'of the sets kof shoes, sprocket wheels on .the shafts, sprocket chains on ,said wheels and slid-able between thc shoes tween them.

,10. In an electric weldingmachine, two

pairs of parallel shoes between which the work 1s slidable, electriccondilctors connecting to one shoe of each pair, a Lshaft at each end of the sets of shoes, sprocket wheels on the shafts, sprocket chains on said wheels 1and slidablebetween the shoes with the work to be welded, a pair of rolls rotatable on axes parallel to the planes of)the sprocket wheels and positioned between the shafts therefor to' position the work between the shoes, means to drive said chains and rolls, 'means to guide the Awork to the chains, and means to guide the work after it leaves the chains. 1- 11. In an electric welding machine, two pairs ofparallel shoes betweeny which the work is slidable, electric conductors connecting toone shoeof each pair,.a shaft at each lend of the sets of shoes, sprocket 'wheels and slidable between the shoes with the work to be welded, a pair of rolls rotatable on axes parallel to the planes of the sprocket wheels and positioned between the shafts therefor to position the work between the shoes, a pair of opposed rolls to'engagethe work to flatten'` -the weldsas they leave the shoes, a pair of rolls to guide the work out of the machine, and a ,air of rolls to engage ,`on,the shafts, sprocket chains on said wheels the work as it enters t e machine to prevent 'the partsr from engaging before they reach ','fthe shoes, said' three last named pairs of rolls being actuated'by the work. k'I

12. In a machine for welding metal parts, stationary current carrying shoes vto conduct current to the parts to `for eonvergingly feeding parts to bring them into engagement while' receiving current.

13. In pairs of parallel current carrying shoes between'which the work isslidable, a pair jof ,chains mounted .at anangle to each other an electric welding machine, two

welded, and meansdm for convergin-gly feeding parts to be welded to the spaces between the shoes, and means to drive the chain 14. In an electric. welding machine, means l'for longitudinally feeding metal bars to be welded to the machine in converging nonparallel relation, and stationary means for joining` the parts in parallel relation.

l5. In an electric Welding machine, means for longitudinally feeding metal bars to be welded to the machine in converging nonparallel relation; and stationary means for butt welding-the parts in parallel relation.

16. In an electric welding machine, two 10 gether While in said spaces, and means to I conduct current to said parts when 1n said 5 spaces.

JULIUS KAHN. 

